Creature Comforts
by Chamelaucium
Summary: One night when Ron can't sleep, he finds some comfort in an unexpected quarter. (Set during Prisoner of Azkaban)


**Creature Comforts**

Ron couldn't sleep. The dormitory was so stuffy and the rhythmic sound of the others breathing was getting on his nerves. He checked his watch – 12:43am. He knew he had to sleep eventually, or else he'd be a wreck in the morning; but the close hot air of the dormitory just wouldn't let him sink into the welcome oblivion of sleep.

Giving up, he tossed aside the blankets and stood up, and crept to the stairs. Silently he made his way down to the common room, where the embers of the fire still glowed dimly in the fireplace. He threw himself down onto his favourite large cushioned armchair and sat, slumped, staring into the orange ashes of the hearth.

He sat like this for a while. The room was dark, and even with the remains of the fire it was cooler than in the dormitory. He was so absorbed by the patterns and glows of the embers that Ron gave a yelp of surprise when something soft brushed against his leg. He looked down, only to find Crookshanks head-butting his leg with enough force to knock Ron over, had he been standing up.

Ron gave a little huff of irritation.

'Go away, Crookshanks. You're not going to get at Scabbers,' Ron whispered at the cat, who only looked up at him with sorrowful green eyes which were surprisingly effective at heart-melting, even with the cat's squashed face.

'What do you want?' Ron asked, as Crookshanks continued to stare at him balefully.

With a sigh, Ron bent down and stroked his hand along the cat's back. Instantly Crookshanks was purring, loud enough to wake the whole of Gryffindor house, and renewed his head-butting of Ron's legs. Ron moved his attention to scratching Crookshanks' head between his ears, and a look of pure bliss appeared on the cat's face. He moved to jump up, and Ron let him. Crookshanks curled up on his lap, still purring nine to the dozen, and Ron continued his petting.

As the remains of the fire grew darker, Crookshanks' purring became more contented and sleepy, and Ron too found his eyes growing heavy as he continued to stroke the cat. Crookshanks really wasn't so bad, he thought…

When the embers of the fire finally went out completely, Ron was still sitting in the huge armchair, his head drooping and eyes closed, arms wrapped around the large ginger cat who was sleeping peacefully against Ron's chest.

Ron was woken again by a hand on his arm. He awoke with a start, and was momentarily confused when he found himself in the common room, the sky just beginning to grow light outside. He looked at who had woken him – it was a house elf.

'Excuse me sir, but would master prefer to go back to his dormitory?' the house elf asked in a squeaky high-pitched voice.

Instantly Ron was up, Crookshanks jumping ruefully out of his lap. When had he fallen asleep? Ron didn't remember falling asleep… he smiled gratefully at the house elf for waking him – he would never have lived it down if Harry or (even worse) Hermione had found him with _Crookshanks _on his knee! – and quickly and silently stole back up the stairs to his bedroom, where the peaceful snores of the others were still heard. Ron curled back up into bed and fell asleep; he could still feel the soft brush of Crookshanks' long fur even as he sank into dreams.

* * *

When Ron awoke a few hours later, nothing was any different. That evening, Crookshanks settled with Hermione who cooed over him and petted him while Ron and Harry continued with their tedious Divination homework, which Hermione point blank refused to help them with.

When Ron went to bed however, he was not at all surprised to see the wise glint in Crookshank's bright green eyes as Ron got up from his chair, and Crookshanks immediately leaped up and settled himself onto the armchair Ron had just vacated – the same one as last night, and watched him leave the common room.

Ron gave a little smile; he was sure he'd find himself back in that chair before the night was out, a fluffy cat curled up on his knee.

* * *

_**A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Just a little bit of (cat) Harry Potter fluff :) I've always thought it would be so cute if Ron did actually like Crookshanks secretly, even when he pretended he didn't... so I came up with this. **_

_**Thank you for reading and I do hope you liked it. Please do review! I'd love to know what you think. :D**_


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